Sandbox III: Revenge of the Sandbox

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SCP Sandbox

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Unique instances of SCP-4002 are to be stored in a standard cognitohazardous materials locker at Site-23. All non-unique instances are to be incinerated unless requested by the inhabitants of the appropriate Exclusion Zone. All instances are to have digital reproductions, imaged by D-Class personnel.

Mobile Task Force Chi-9 (“Starving Artists”) are to contain any uncontained SCP-4002 instances, or dispose of them if containment is impractical. Mobile Task Force Sigma-2 (“Crab Cakes”) are to monitor suspected areas for signs of SCP-4002 activity. Any persons showing unusual interests in art, particularly street art or graffiti, are to be investigated immediately for signs of infection. All professional artists showing a lack of variation in their work are to be investigated as well.

All persons affected by SCP-4002 are to be placed within the appropriate Exclusion Zone for the remainder of their lives, or until a countermeasure is discovered.

Staff at Site-23 are forbidden from creating any form of visual art, regardless of the level of abstraction. Any persons observed doing so will be placed in solitary confinement to be tested for SCP-4002 infection.

All Foundation personnel who believe themselves to be affected are to immediately report their suspicions and submit to testing. Affected staff are to be relocated to the Exclusion Zone at Site-23, where they will continue their work in safety.

All newly-discovered European caves are to have their walls completely cleansed of any paintings or other artwork, as in the Bruniquel Cave.

Description:

SCP-4002 refers to a series of cognitohazardous art pieces. The exact number of SCP-4002 instances is unknown, as the 1,231 instances contained within Site-23 are estimated to make up between 5% and 7% of all instances in the world.

When exposed to an SCP-4002 instance, or a non-digital reproduction of one, a human will instantaneously and permanently become affected by its anomalous properties. Only one instance can affect a given subject. At this point, the affected individual is said to be at Stage One of infection. Stage One manifests itself as an unconscious compulsion to reproduce the instance, especially in places others are likely to see it. While most people's lives are affected very little, professional artists find themselves incapable of creating anything aside from SCP-4002 instances.

In 0.6% of cases, affected individuals are compelled to create an SCP-4002 instance unrelated to the one that affected them. This has led researchers to believe that all present instances derive from a single instance.

The first effect does not make itself apparent until the infected individual sees the object of their latent fear. This immediately triggers a powerful “fight or flight” response, leading the victim to violently attack or flee. In either case, the infected subject shows no regard whatsoever for their own health and safety.

Once the fight-or-flight response is triggered, the subject's brain is permanently altered. All desires and goals are replaced with the destruction of, or flight from, the offending object, even if said object is completely removed from an infected subject's presence. Subjects will ignore all other activities, including biological functions, and are thereafter incapable of supporting themselves. All subjects in this state are to be terminated through a fatal dose of painkilling medicine.

Following investigation by Applied Task Force Mu-22 "Rat Cheese," it was discovered that no fewer than 236 million individuals worldwide were affected by SCP-4002. In order to prevent staggering loss of life, a number of Exclusion Zones were created following the proposal of Dr. Margler. Most Exclusion Zones are located along the coast of Antarctica, but others can be found in sparsely inhabited areas across the globe.

Each Exclusion Zone is dedicated to protecting individuals sharing the same terminal obsession. Any instances of the obsession are strictly banned, and any person caught smuggling such an object in are to be terminated immediately. Inhabitants of the Exclusion Zones may be amnesticized to remove any memory of living outside of the zone if they desire. Inhabitants of the Zones are allowed to communicate with each other, but not with the rest of the world.

Exclusion Zone inhabitants may indulge in their compulsion to create anomalous art as much as they desire, so long as no art can be seen from outside the zone.

Exclusion Zone inhabitants work for Foundation shell companies to generate profit, or for the Foundation directly. While they are allowed to have knowledge of SCP-4002's effects, they are not permitted to know any classified information. With regards to other Foundation activity, they are to be considered ordinary civilians.

The water supply in the Exclusion Zones is laced with antifertility drugs in the hope of minimizing new infections.

SCP-4002 was first discovered in the city of Marshall, VA, on August 17th, 2008. Prior to the discovery, Marshall had the second-largest metropolitan population in the United States and contributed more to the world economy than New York City. Following Incident 4002-A, Operation S U C C was put into effect, removing all memory of Marshall, VA worldwide. The few hundred surviving citizens were allowed to remain in the cleared area after receiving amnestic treatment.

On the morning of August 17th, 8910 instances of street art were discovered, having presumably been created in secret during the night. The instances consisted mostly of humans or human body parts, along with various vehicles, infrastructure, and buildings commonly found in the city. The instances were placed in high-traffic areas, mostly on the sides of buildings. Most of Marshall’s citizens would have naturally seen at least one instance unless they were actively avoiding them. The resulting incident resulted in an estimated 32 million fatalities.

Despite the best efforts of Foundation agents and collaboration with national governments, the

Due to the many SCP-4002 instances remaining in and around the city's buildings, the city was demolished and buried.

It is believed that several hundred individuals were affected by SCP-4002 instances depicting uncommon items or animals. These citizens fled the violence out of non-anomalous fear, unintentionally spreading the cognitohazard outside of the city.

Shortly after the Marshall incident, an investigation into the possible location of additional SCP-4000 instances was launched. Several murals in nearby airports and major train stations depicting flora and fauna not native to North America were confirmed to be SCP-4002. The murals were all less than a year old, and brief investigation revealed the names and locations of the artists responsible.

The artists were apprehended and brought to Site-23 for questioning. Despite skepticism on the part of Foundation personnel, it was eventually discovered that the artists had no connection to each other, and had no understanding of SCP-4000. Several of these artists were willing to cooperate with the Foundation's investigation. The remainder were amnesticized and released1.

While the artists were not able to identify the source of their own infections, they were instrumental in uncovering the individuals responsible for the Marshall Incident. As a result, they were the first members of MTF Chi-9.

MTF Chi-9's investigation revealed the existence of the "A S C E N D E D," an insular group of persons affected by SCP-4000. The group operated out of somewhere in Wisconsin, having quietly assumed control over the town. They kidnapped persons from across the country, mostly consisting of the homeless, undocumented immigrants, and the elderly. The group intentionally exposed their captives to SCP-4000 instances and encouraged them to produce additional instances. How the group acquired the funding necessary to carry out their operation is the subject of an ongoing investigation, but all evidence points to the assistance of an unknown third party.

Three months after the Marshall Incident, MTF Sigma-2, under guidance from MTF Chi-9, conducted a raid on the Wisconsin town. While the cultist militia defending the town was unusually well-armed, Sigma-2 was able to penetrate their defenses without taking any casualties. The cult leader, in a desperate last stand, exposed the majority of his affected captives to their trigger-objects and attempted to escape in the chaos. Despite significant injuries and several fatalities, Sigma-2 was victorious and apprehended the leader. Unfortunately, the team was forced to kill the majority of their attackers in self-defense. While later research showed that they were doing them a favor, this was not comforting to the team members.

The cult leader revealed that he was behind the Marshall Incident, having run the wisconsin town location in the hope of generating a human-instance. He was not working alone, but he was unaware of the identity of his benefactors. It came to light that his instance was triggered by the extinct cave bear. Unfortunately for him, the leader of Sigma-2 made an error in requisition forms that resulted in a millennia-old frozen cave bear carcass, in perfect condition, being delivered to the cult leader's cell.

Footnotes

1. At this time, the anomalous properties of SCP-4000 were not properly understood.